100 Theme Fanfiction Challenge
by AimzVador Inc
Summary: 100 Drabbles of JohnxCortana during (or after) the series! Friendship/Romance genre will change in each chapter! Warnings(if any) will be stated in each chapter. Enjoy! :D
1. Challenge List

**Fandom: Halo Series**

**Pairing: JoTana (John and Cortana)**

**100 Theme Fanfiction Challenge List:**

1. Introduction

2. Love

3. Light

4. Dark

5. Seeking Solace

6. Break Away

7. Dream

8. Innocence

9. Drive

10. Breathe Again

11. Memory

12. Insanity

13. Misfortune

14. Smile

15. Silence

16. Illusion

17. Blood

18. Rainbow

19. Gray

20. Fortitude

21. Vacation

22. Mother Nature

23. Cat

24. No Time

25. Trouble Lurking

26. Tears

27. Foreign

28. Sorrow

29. Happiness

30. Under the Rain

31. Flowers

32. Night

33. Expectations

34. Stars

35. Hold My Hand

36. Fairy Tale

37. Eyes

38. Abandoned

39. Water

40. Rated

41. Teamwork

42. Standing Still

43. Dying

44. Two Roads

45. Heaven

46. Family

47. Creation

48. Childhood

49. Stripes

50. Breaking the Rules

51. Sport

52. Deep in Thought

53. Keeping a Secret

54. Tower

55. Waiting

56. Danger Ahead

57. Sacrifice

58. Kick in the Head

59. No Way Out

60. Rejection

61. Beautiful

62. Magic

63. Do Not Disturb

64. Multitasking

65. Horror

66. Traps

67. Playing the Melody

68. Hero

69. Annoyance

70. 67%

71. Obsession

72. Mischief Managed

73. I Can't

74. Are You Challenging Me?

75. Mirror

76. Broken Pieces

77. Test

78. Drink

79. Starvation

80. Words

81. Pen and Paper

82. Can You Hear Me?

83. Heal

84. Out Cold

85. Spiral

86. Seeing Red

87. Food

88. Pain

89. Through the Fire

90. Triangle

91. Drowning

92. All That I Have

93. Give Up

94. Last Hope

95. Advertisement

96. In the Storm

97. Safety First

98. Puzzle

99. Solitude

100. Relaxation


	2. Chapter 1: 67 Percent

**Chapter 1: 67%**

* * *

The Master Chief gave a relieved sigh once he crushed the skull of the last brute in the area. _All clear, _he thought as he finished scanning the area for more Covenant.

For the past thirty minutes, the Master Chief had been jumping, running, shooting, and just recently, crushing the brutes' heads to clear the LZ for the Pelican to land relatively safely.

"This is Cortana to Echo-419. You're free to land anytime you want now, Foe Hammer." John heard the familiar voice at the back of his head.

"_This is Echo-419. We read you, Cortana. ETA is about 5 minutes."_

_Great, more waiting,_ John thought after the transmission ended,_ at least there aren't any more of those Brutes…_

"Sooo…" John would have jumped if he weren't used to his A.I. starting conversations at very random times. "I'm impressed. What you did there was pretty good!" _'Pretty Good?'_ John thought. "So, from 0 to 100 percent, I'd probably rate you to… I'd say, 67%!"

John blinked once.

Twice.

He blinked again.

67%?! 67%! How dare her give him a score just above average! John's mind reeled as he thought of what made the A.I. give him such a… questionable score.

If John does anything, he always does it 100 percent. Not any less. He strives hard to get the job done, and get it done right. But now… 67%... That's just…

"I was kidding John, jeez." Cortana laughed and John imagined her with that smirk of hers again. "You know you're best at everything!"

John blinked and narrowed his eyes when he realized he had just been played, by an A.I. no less!

The Pelican arrived and John hopped on, and at one point, he could swear he heard Cortana mutter, very lowly, "Boys and their pride. Tsk."


	3. Chapter 2: Are You Challenging Me?

**Chapter 2: Are you Challenging Me?**

* * *

"Hey Chief," Cortana suddenly said in the midst of all the commotion. "I bet you can't get close enough to that Scarab and destroy it with a single shot!" she snickered as she 'imagined' John try to destroy the Scarab with a single shot, but all in vain.

The Mongoose John was driving suddenly lurched to a stop and then made a brisk U-turn, right towards the towering Scarab.

"Uhh… Chief?" Cortana asked timidly when she realized the Master Chief _was_ planning to kill the Scarab with a single shot. Alone. With no reinforcements. "John, you _do _realize that was just a joke… right?"

Cortana's digital 'eyes' widened when John drove full speed into an elevated, diagonal metal chunk of what used to be a pelican wing, right into the Scarab's insides.

"Chief, this is insane! This is too dangerous!" Cortana tried when they neared the elevated pelican wing, but it was all in vain when they suddenly lurched up and stumbled inside the Scarab gracelessly.

The Master Chief hopped off the Mongoose and fought the grunts, elites and brutes guarding the Scarab's main core.

When they were all taken care of, Chief grabbed his Rocket Launcher and shot the Scarab's power core once, and quickly ran towards the opening, jumped off and landed with a roll. The Scarab behind them shut down and exploded; pieces of what used to be a powerful, lethal and _alive_ Scarab scattered everywhere.

That was when Cortana realized, you do NOT challenge a Spartan.


	4. Chapter 3: Broken Pieces

**Chapter 3- Broken Pieces**

**HALO 4 SPOILERS**

* * *

"I'm not coming with you this time, John." Cortana looked up to John with sorrowful, rampant eyes. She was silently pleading him to just let her go, to make this easier for her; for both of them.

"What?" John shook his head briskly. "No, Cortana, I'm not leaving this place alone!" John took a step forward but stopped when Cortana went to him instead. She placed a hand on his chest plate and smiled melancholy.

"I've always wanted to do that." She looked up to him again and gave one last smile and started going backwards.

"No, Cortana!" John tried to reach out but he found that he could not move, and can only stare helplessly at the retreating figure of _his_ A.I.

"Most of me is already down there John; irretrievable, broken pieces of what used to be me. What used to be Cortana." She 'sighed' and smiled again at _her _Spartan, "Remember this John: they will give you a new A.I., maybe even another Cortana model… but that isn't me… you know that, right? It will never be me…"

John snapped out of his reverie when Captain Lasky left, leaving the area all for himself. He felt another sharp wave of pain in his chest; a pain that has been there ever since Cortana… _his_ Cortana was lost… His sadness was so great, that he couldn't think of anything else. He didn't even have the will to live anymore… He just wanted Cortana back…_ his _Cortana back…

John stared at humanity's motherland—Earth. He felt as though he should be relieved, happy, or even content, but he would never be in peace when his A.I., his partner… his friend, the one who helped him save humanity is forever gone… It didn't feel fair that the ones who fought the most for humanity will also suffer the most… It didn't feel fair that after all the hardships he suffered… they both suffered, that they can't get a happy, or at least a satisfying life…

At that moment, Cortana wasn't the only person who was scattered in irretrievable broken pieces.


	5. Chapter 4: Breathing Again

**Chapter 4: Breath Again**

**POSSIBLE HALO 4 SPOILERS? (TRAILER SPOILERS ONLY)**

* * *

Cortana's digital 'hand' quivered as it roamed over the 'REACTIVATE' button in the Master Chief's data page. She looked up at _her_ Spartan, and gave a small, wistful smile.

It had been too long. Way too long since she last saw him move, since she last heard his voice, since she last 'felt' him breath. It was all too overwhelming to know that in a few minutes, _her_ Spartan will be alive again… _her _Spartan will be breathing for her again…

"Wake up, Chief." Cortana said as she pressed the 'REACTIVATE' button. "I need you." Not humanity, not Earth and her colonies, not UNSC, but _she—_Cortana, needed him.

The Master Chief slowly woke up from frozen sleep and looked around, his eyes immediately landing on _his_ A.I. He went out of the cryo tube after he had been thawed.

"How was your sleep, Chief?" Cortana smiled at him, happy to see him moving again.

"Cortana? Why did you wake me?" Master Chief asked instead, as he took his floating assault rifle and floated towards Cortana.

"Well, I've detected multiple enemy forces in our ship, or what's left of it. I hacked their comms, and it sounded like they were interested in you, John."

John sighed as he realized that the war he ended years ago wasn't the last war he was going to fight. He prepared himself for another set of battles, both physically and mentally.

And Cortana? She was just relived to know that her Spartan was breathing again.


	6. Chapter 5: Smile

**Chapter 5: Smile**

**HALO 4 SPOILERS**

* * *

Cortana knew it was hopeless. Yes, she—they saved their motherland. Yes, she has kept the Master Chief—humanity's hero alive. And yes, they have stopped the Didact from destroying humanity and its home world. But she knew… she knew that John would have to face the rest of the world alone after this. She knew that this would be their very last mission together.

"Cortana? Cortana, do you read? Cortana, come in." Cortana pushed herself into 'wakefulness' when she heard John's slightly desperate voice. She vowed to herself that she would give him one last goodbye, she owed him at least that much.

"How…" she heard him ask as a human sized hard light version of her emerges in front of him.

"Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" she asked, giving him a small smile.

"But if we're here-"

"It worked," she smiled, "You did it. Just like you always do."

"So how do we get out of here?" John asked and Cortana felt her 'heart' beak even into tinier pieces.

She smiled solemnly and said in the softest voice possible, "I'm not coming with you this time."

"…What?" Chief's voice was raised slightly, and she knew deep inside he was panicking.

"Most of me is down there. I only held enough back to get you off the ship" She tried to explain, knowing full well that John would do anything to let her come with him.

"No. That's not-! We go _together_." He stressed out the last word, as if saying it firmer will make it come true.

"It's already done." She uttered softly, feeling herself disappearing, trying to hold on just to give her one last goodbye.

"I am not leaving you here."

"John…" she knew it was futile to argue with him, and she felt herself being pulled into eternal abyss, so instead, she slowly walked up to him and touched his armor. "I've waited so long to do that."

"It was my job to take care of you." He tried one last attempt of denial.

"We were supposed to take care of each other. And we did." Cortana's voice cracked a little by the end of her statement. She felt herself being pulled faster and faster.

"Cortana please, wait!" John hurriedly took off his helmet and reached out for Cortana when she started backing off.

"Please John…" she looked at him in the eye and gave a genuine smile, "Smile for me?"

The last thing Cortana saw was Master Chief's sorrowful smile.


	7. Chapter 6: Food

**Chapter 6 - Food**

* * *

"Come on, Chief!" John heard the familiar voice from inside his helmet. "It isn't that hard!"

John narrowed his visor covered eyes at the... _goop _that was served to him by the ship's cook.

"You need the nutrition for it, Chief." Cortana urged, as if talking to a hard-headed child, "Come on! Open up!"

"I think my system can handle missing a meal or two." He growled, hating the idea of that goop in his system.

"John…" the A.I. sighed, "Just eat it! Come on!"

"No." Master Chief picked up the plate and walked towards the trash bin.

"John! No, come on! Eat it, or else…" she growled, not finishing her sentence.

"Or else what?" John paused in his purposeful stride for a moment, before he continued walking.

"Or else!" Suddenly, John felt his armor stop responding, it stood there for a few seconds, before turning towards the same table he occupied moments ago.

"Cortana…" John narrowed his eyes, not believing that this was actually happening, "Stop this, now!"

"No John, you need it." Cortana said firmly, leaving no room for arguments.

John felt his armor sit on the same place, he also felt the eyes of marines and ODST's who looked weirded out by his sudden performance. He was just thankful that they couldn't hear his and Cortana's conversation in his helmet.

Suddenly, he felt his helmet being removed; he was seriously ready to murder someone now, particularly a blue hued, 2 feet high lady.

"Eat up, John." He heard from his helmet speakers, the soldiers closer to him looked at him weirdly, before going on with what they were doing.

He growled under his breath but resigned to his fate of eating the gooey substance that was supposed to be _food_.

'_Never again,_' he thought, '_Never._'

Inwardly, Cortana chuckled at the childlike behavior of the Master Chief. Who knew that humanity's greatest hero was such a baby.


	8. Chapter 7: Night

**Chapter 7: Night**

* * *

"Chief?" Cortana suddenly said in the middle of their scouting mission, the master Chief grunted, but didn't pause in his long, purposeful strides. "What does the night look like?"

"What do you mean?" The Master Chief asked her—he thought she knew everything, since she was an A.I.

"Well…" Cortana sighed sadly, "I may be an AI, John. I may know everything. I know every single star that you see in the sky now. I know every single name of all the plants around you, and even every single element that is present in this world. But that's it… I know not how to feel… how to see… I long to know what the sky looks like; what the breeze in the ocean smells like; what the heat of the sun on your face feels like… But I will never be able to John; I'm just an AI, _Artificial_."

John had stopped walking in the middle of her speech and looked up to the star lit, dark night sky. He thought about what it felt like to _know_ something was there, but never know what it actually looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like.

"Do you want me to describe it for you?" John asked the AI after the period of silence.

"Would you really?" John nodded. "Yes, please."

"The sky is dark blue, and is lit in some places by the stars. There are plenty of stars that can be clearly seen, scattered around." Of course, Cortana noted, there is no pollution in the world, so the stars will be very easily seen.

"The forest in the north of us is very silent. The only sounds that can be heard are the hooting of owls and howling of wolves." Yes, Cortana thought, there were plenty of wild animals in this world; that is why it is a candidate for another home world for humanity.

"The river behind us is very calm. There are occasionally fishes that jump above the water, making soft sounds." Cortana 'smiled' when John ended his speech. That was really the longest he has spoken, probably in his whole career. She loved knowing that the Master Chief would go through all lengths just to satisfy her.

"Your explaining could really use some work." Cortana giggled. "But, thanks anyway, John."

"It was no problem." He said, still looking up at the brightly lit sky.

"No, I mean it. Thank you." Cortana insisted, wanting him to know that she was really grateful for him stopping his mission just to _talk_ to her.

John nodded and continued on with his scouting mission, bringing with him a very satisfied AI.


	9. Chapter 8: Annoyance

**Chapter 8: Annoyance**

* * *

"Chief!" Cortana said the moment John walked inside his assigned quarters after his quick shower. "How many times do I have to tell you to clean. Your. Armor. Is it really that hard?" She pointed towards the corner where John chucked his armor in a small pile.

"It will get dirty afterwards." John said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"No! That's not the point!" Cortana insisted, placing both holographic hands on her holographic hips.

"Then what _is_ the point of cleaning something that will ultimately get dirty, Cortana?" John crossed his arms and leaned against the closed-door, raising an eyebrow at the holographic figure of Cortana.

"The point is," Cortana sighed, using a condescending tone, as if talking to a child, "It helps with your reputation. You don't want other soldiers—_especially_ the ODST's to think that the great Master Chief is such a slob, do you?"

"I could care less about what they think." John said, gaze not wavering from her form.

"John! Just do as I say! I know these things, you don't!" Cortana screamed in frustration at how _childish_ the Master Chief was getting. If she knew she would be working with this kind of attitude, she would have chosen another Spartan! _'No, not really. I'd still choose him any time.'_ But still!

"No Cortana. And it's final." John turned and opened the door and went to leave the room.

"JOHN!" Cortana screamed at the loudest volume possible. He did _not_ just back off from their conversation. He _did not._

Cortana grumbled inside her 'head', planning on what she can do. Suddenly, she grinned and nodded her head. Yes, that is the best plan ever.

She planned to start the next day.

* * *

John has been having bad luck the entire day; he had been running into trouble on every corner. And for the Master Chief, that is a very, _very_ bad thing. He is _always _lucky. Perhaps today was just not his day?

First, the lights and water in the shower room turned off in the middle of his shower. Which left him alone, in the dark—but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that he was _soapy_ and slippery.

As he went to his towel to dry off, the towel has 'mysteriously' vanished, and a pod that wasn't there a moment ago magically appeared out of nowhere, causing him to hit his toe on it and almost fall on the very wet and slippery floor.

When he went to get a drink in the energy drink dispenser, it wouldn't stop pouring the energy drink; he had to use his shirt as a stopper so the thing won't flood the floor, which resulted to a very wet and _sticky_ shirt for John, which resulted to him taking another shower. It had taken five expert technicians to stop the mechanical problem.

When he decided to go to the training room to have target practice, every single gun he laid his hands on seemed to get jammed. One gun had recoiled so hard, it hit his eye when he placed it on the scope, causing a very large, dark and painful looking bruise. Another gun wouldn't stop firing no matter what he did, he tried taking the magazine with bullets off, but it just went insane and slapped him on the face. He looked around him to see if the others had the same problem as him, but they were all firing noisily and happily. When he asked to borrow the gun, it would stop working.

John finally had enough, he _knew_ who was behind all these; no one else would dare cross the path of _the_ Master Chief. No one else, but Cortana.

Just then, he felt himself tripping over a _wire_ that was slightly raised, there was _never_ a single wire in the ship. Not until now that is. He was too focused on his anger that he only realized a second too late that he was falling. To the blue-haired ODST that he hated, _Hated_, HATED so much. The Master Chief fell on him, almost crushing the poor guy. A few bewildered looks were sent to the both of them, and they stood—ehem, sat that way for a few seconds before the blue-haired idiot spoke.

"I didn't know you swing that way, big guy." The blue-haired moron chuckled and smirked at him.

John growled before jumping off him, marching towards his quarters, where the object of his sentiments resided.

* * *

"CORTANA!" John bellowed the moment he entered his assigned quarters. He knew Cortana would be there.

"Yes, John?" Cortana asked all too innocently, too innocent for someone who just did all those… all those… _pranks_ to him.

"Stop this stupidity!" John angrily shouted at the woman, marching in front of her pod and glared at her.

"You had this coming John, when you decided to disobey me, not once but plenty,_ plenty_ of times! You should have known!" Cortana narrowed her eyes and held the Chief's gaze. "If you finally clean your armor," Cortana gestured to the pile of metal that was chucked on the other side of the room, "I'll stop."

"Fine!" John shouted at her.

"Fine." She crossed her arms and smirked when John dejectedly picked up each part of his armor and carefully cleaned and polished it.

That's when John learned, you do _not_ mess with an AI.

* * *

**This was the longest chapter yet! Hope you enjoyed! :DDD **

**Reviews are ALWAYS appreciated.**


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